Washington Redskins must fix these problems

Oct 12, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder on the sidelines prior to the game against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

When a team ends consecutive seasons 3-13 and 4-12, there are usually a plethora of issues on both sides of the ball. Here, I’ll give you four major Washington Redskins issues – not all of them on the field – and provide brief solutions for all of them. Washington already started to attempt fixing defensive issues by parting ways with Jim Haslett, but the front office needs to do much more than that.

4. Offensive Line Play

Line play was atrocious in 2014. The line gave up 58 sacks, which is an alarmingly high number. Of course, those numbers are slightly inflated: Robert Griffin III should be accountable for a good portion of those sacks because of the fact that he held the ball too long in the pocket and didn’t throw to open receivers. No offensive line can block five guys for how long Griffin held the ball for.

Although he had issues in the pocket, the offensive line was shaky at best for most of the season. Trent Williams (left tackle) and Kory Lichtensteiger (center) were the Washington’s only good lineman; the rest were subpar. Williams is considered one of the NFL’s top lineman, but he didn’t have as good a season as people think this year, partly due to injuries. Bengals’ left tackle Andrew Whitworth, who gave up no sacks and only one quarterback hit all year, was a better Pro Bowl candidate than Williams.

Washington has issues at left guard, right guard, and right tackle. Shaun Lauvao had a rocky season as the starting left guard; he isn’t up to par in either pass blocking or run blocking. Chris Chester, Tyler Polumbus, and Tom Compton got abused by defensive tackles and ends on the right side of the line. The entire right side needs to be overhauled.

Washington needs to bring in a few linemen in free agency, as the team has tons of cap space. By the end of round two in the draft, they should already have at least one lineman selected.

Next: Quarterback Play